Productivity index

A number from 0 to 100 that summarizes the agricultural suitability of a unit of soil: the higher, the better the soil.

Also: IP · Suitability index · ind_prod

It is the index that the soil survey map of the INTA bring in the property «ind_prod». It condenses into a single number what the class of land capability says in categories: how good the land is for producing.

It is built by combining the properties that limit performance—depth, texture, drainage, salinity, slope, rainfall regime—and penalizing each limitation. The result is expressed over 100, where 100 would be soil without any restriction for the crop.

The number alone says nothing: 62 about what. That's why in report it always goes with its rating in words and with the bar that places it on the scale.

Zero is a category, not the worst soil

An index of 0 does not mean "the worst land in the country": it means that the soil survey map marked that unit as unsuitable for agriculture. There are 631 of the 5,322 units of the national soil survey map, and soil survey map itself says it explicitly in its property main limitation. That is why zero has its own section on the scale and is not mixed with low indices: they are different things.

How to calculate the value of the integer property

A property almost never falls within a single unit of soil. The index shown by report is the average of the units that cover it, weighted by the surface area each one occupies: a unit that covers 70% of property weighs seven times more than one that covers 10%.

Next to the index is always the coverage percentage. If the soil survey map only covers 60% of the property, the index was calculated on that 60% and must be read knowingly.

See also

  • Land capability

    A scale from I to VIII that answers a single question: what is this land for, from agriculture without limitations (I) to without agricultural suitability (VIII).

  • Map unit

    Each polygon the soil survey map divides the territory into; it is the smallest unit there is data for.

  • Data coverage

    What share of the farmland actually has data from a layer; the rest is not made up, it is declared empty.

Sources

  • INTA · Dominio público (carta 1:500.000)